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MS-DOS Paternity Dispute Goes to Court
theodp writes "Might be more interesting as a Who's-My-Baby's-Daddy? segment on Maury, but a Court has been asked to decide the parentage of MS-DOS. Tim Paterson, whose operating system 86-DOS (aka QDOS) was sold to Microsoft in 1980, is suing author Harold Evans and Time Warner for defamation. In his book They Made America, Evans devoted a chapter to the late, great Gary Kildall, founder of Digital Research, describing Paterson's software as a 'rip-off' and 'a slapdash clone' of Kildall's CP/M."
I'm... I'm confused... somebody wants to admit they created MS-DOS?
describing Paterson's software as a 'rip-off' and 'a slapdash clone' of Kildall's CP/M.
m l
Meanwhile, Bill is organizing an army of lawyers, and suddenly "Oh wait, they aren't talking about me!".
http://www.mackido.com/History/History_DrDos.ht
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
There is nothing funnier that two geeks in a slap fight.
I'd be suing over the title of the book -- correct me if I'm wrong, but Microsoft didn't build america. In fact, I'm pretty sure America was already quite well established by 1980, seeing as how they it was a global superpower at the time.
... OK, Bill isn't the biological father, but he's still damn proud.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I thought Gore invented DOS!
Not only did Tim Patterson, creator of Q-DOS for Seattle Computer Products, make Bill Gates a man worth fifty billion dollars, even more portentously, Tim Patterson helped out in the solution to artificial intelligence. Back then, Mentifex here was working out the eventual solution to AI on a theoretical basis, and also attending monthly meetings of the Northwest Computer Society in Seattle WA USA - where Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products was an important member. One day at a meeting, the chair asked for volunteers to work on the newsletter. Mentifex was panic-stricken. He wanted to do his part, but he was so-o-o busy solving AI. The silence hung heavy over the room. Then, the all-around good-guy Tim Patterson raised his hand and volunteered to work on the newsletter. As arguably a result, Microsoft would take over the desktop, and Mentifex would solve AI.
Now, about Gary Kildall of Digital Research. In 1981, Gary Kildall published an article in Byte Magazine. Consequently Mentifex wrote to Digital Research and offered them a copy of November Magazine containing first-ever publication of the Mentifex Theory of Mind. Gary Kildall's office manager wrote back and requested that two copies be sent. They were. Nothing happened. Gary Kildall had missed out not only on MS-DOS but also on Mentifex AI.
I couldn't give a toss,
who made MSDOS,
All I know,
is I broke my toe,
kicking the damn computer out the (MS) Window,
when once again,
I'd rather have used a pen,
to write down all my precious source code.
Amen.
Maury: "Mr. Gates, you are NOT DOS's father!" Bill: "Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I done TOLD you it ain't my baby!"
Face it, do something enough times, and it can cause problems.
C>
A>
I wrote MS-DOS.....
No, I Wote MS-DOS.......
No, I wrote MS-DOS, and so did my wife!
mcbride - has 'rights' to code, sues IBM
paterson - has 'rights' to code, sues evans and time warner
Maybe jerry springer can do a show on frivolous lawsuits. I'd like to see the CEOs of each of the involved parties throw chairs at each other and punch each other silly.
I wonder if they'd get any brain damage. I wonder if some of them even have enough brains to get brain damage.
Then maury could do a show on CEOs that got brain damaged during a staged tv talk show.
At any event this is all (lawsuits included) about as productive as monkeys flinging feces at each other.
Really? There are people who call their software the GIMP, for gosh sakes!
According to some Linux is a "rip-off" and a "slapdash clone" of SCO's unix.
DOS was great for completely destroying a system with a few simple lines of code. Ahh yes, and job security through obfuscated code... those were the days
Doing it "dirty" takes more time in the end.
Rimshot!
Don Negro
Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall
Dean Swift obviously never hung out at Slashdot!